The field of the present disclosure relates generally to honeycomb structures and, more specifically, to an apparatus and methods of automated cutting of side walls of honeycomb structures.
Honeycomb structures, also referred to as honeycomb cores, typically include a plurality of hexagonal cells shaped to a desired form. Honeycomb structures are typically manufactured from a thin, flat base material such as metal, paper, and/or composite materials. The flat base material is cut into narrow, elongated strips, which are folded or bent into contoured strips of semi-hexagonal peaks and troughs. For example, an elongated strip of a material may be scored at regularly spaced intervals. To form regular hexagonally shaped cells, the score lines are aligned substantially parallel with the ends of the strip and the material is folded along the score lines to an angle of 60° twice in one direction and then twice in the opposite direction in a continuously alternating sequence. The resulting folded strips are then joined together by adhesive, spot welding, brazing or other known joining methods to form a structure having a series of hexagonally shaped cells, thereby forming a flat honeycomb core structure.
At least some known aircraft assemblies implement honeycomb structures in acoustic panels of an engine nacelle for use in attenuating engine noise. Known acoustic panels for use in aircraft assemblies are generally large in size. Manufacturing a single, large acoustic panel generally requires coupling multiple honeycomb structures together. For example, to create acoustic panels of increasing size, a plurality of honeycomb structures are often spliced together by cutting separate honeycomb structures into a desired shape and contour, and adjoining the separate honeycomb structures at respective side wall flaps thereof. Generally, the honeycomb structures must be precisely cut such that the side wall flaps have a predetermined length. However, precisely cutting honeycomb structures is a time-consuming and laborious task. Moreover, variations in the honeycomb structures resulting from the honeycomb structure manufacturing process makes it difficult to ensure the side wall flaps are formed with the predetermined length.